New charges have been filed over the June 9 attempted robbery of undercover federal officers in Country Club Hills, nearly two months after the case originally brought by prosecutors fell apart over video of a police shooting that seemed to contradict an FBI special agent’s sworn affidavit.
It’s one of a series of cases that prompted judges to question the feds’ credibility in Chicago. U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling, who handled the original case, at one point threatened to hold a hearing over whether to sanction the government over what had occurred.
That hearing never went forward.
Now, new attempted robbery charges have been leveled against Amir Fagan, Darrion Rayford and Dontrell Gordon. Fagan is the only one of the three who also faced charges in June. He and Rayford were then charged June 30 in a new indictment that was only unsealed Monday.
The feds charged Gordon separately in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Gordon had previously been misidentified as Demond Edwards, the man who was shot by a Chicago police officer during the Country Club Hills incident, according to a new FBI affidavit.
Edwards doesn’t face any known charges, and he is now suing the city of Chicago over his shooting. Video of the shooting prompted the collapse of the original case. And now, city lawyers say his lawsuit belongs in federal court partly because the officer had been under the supervision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The new criminal complaint filed against Gordon alleges Gordon, Fagan and Rayford tried to rob three people working undercover with the ATF at gunpoint during an $8,700 gun transaction June 9 on Loretto Lane in Country Club Hills.
Rayford and Gordon got away and were only arrested Monday.
The original charges tied to the incident were leveled June 11 against Fagan, Edwards and Chashonn Toney. But the feds moved to dismiss the charges about a week later after video surfaced of the officer shooting Edwards.
The feds dropped the case without prejudice, meaning they could still file new charges.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said Tuesday the case remains under investigation.
An FBI special agent swore in an affidavit in the original case that, according to the law enforcement officer who shot Edwards, “Edwards struck the law enforcement officer multiple times about his face and body with his fists.”
No punches appear to be thrown in the video that surfaced. Prosecutors later argued that the video captured “approximately the last 25 seconds” of an encounter that lasted “for minutes,” and did not capture earlier interactions, “including Edwards striking” the officer.
The shooting is under investigation by Illinois State Police and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The video also seemed to raise questions about whether people in the case had been properly identified. Frustrated by the apparent lack of due diligence by prosecutors, Holleb Hotaling said she’d hold a hearing to decide whether to sanction the feds.
She told attorneys June 18 that “this court is very concerned that I cannot rely on the information that is provided to me either from the U.S. attorney’s office or from agents … when I’m swearing out an affidavit now, right?”
Boutros’ office later argued the judge did not have the authority to hold such a hearing. She wound up agreeing to a “brief” delay but never rescheduled.